The Last Carousel by Nelson Algren

Author:Nelson Algren [Algren Nelson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: essays, philosophy, nihilism, letters, russian, 19th century, drama, viking portable library, german, poetry books, poems, classic literature, 20th century, plays, translation, american literature, exile, anthologies, stories, satire, literary fiction, short story, autobiography, russian literature, collection, english, military, military books, literary, war, modernism, german literature, school, death, literary criticism, play, funny, romance, essay, greek, short story collections, contemporary, french books, found in translation, beat
ISBN: 9781609802479
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Published: 2017-12-09T18:00:00+00:00

EPITAPH

It’s all in the wrist, with a deck or a cue,

And Frankie Machine had the touch.

He had the touch, and a golden arm—

“Hold up, Arm,” he would plead,

Kissing his rosary once for help

With the faders sweating it out and—

Zing !—there it was—Little Joe or Eighter from Decatur

Double-trey the hard way, Dice be Nice,

When you get a hunch bet a bunch

It don’t mean a thing if it don’t cross that string

Make me five to keep me alive

Tell ’em where you got it ’n how easy it was—

We remember Frankie Machine

And the arm that always held up.

We remember in the morning light

When the cards are boxed and the long cues racked

Straight up and down like all-night hours

With the hot rush-hours past.

For it’s all in the wrist with a deck or a cue

And if he crapped out when we thought he was due

It must have been that the dice were rolled,

For he had the touch and his arm was gold.

Rack up his cue, leave the steerer his hat:

The arm that held up has failed at last.

Yet why does the light down the dealer’s slot

Sift soft as light in a troubled dream?

(A dream, they say, of a golden arm

That belonged to the dealer we called Machine.)

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